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Palm Pre to Launch June 6th Priced at $199.99

I wouldn't call this a bad move for Palm, I'd call it a bold move. Apple's WWDC is gonna be like a free marketing campaign for the Pre. With excitement still high from the Pre release on June 6th, whatever comes out of Apple on June 8th, will automatically start being compared to the Pre. And in case Apple doesn't introduce a new phone as rumored on that date, Pre will look even better. Since there haven't been many (up until now, not one) hands-on reviews on the Pre by third parties, Palm can potentially make as many claims as they want about the potential of their new phone when its released; and it won't matter if they are exaggerated or not, they'll leave it up to the press and the public to decide, but that will happen after WWDC.

I like Apple and my iPhone, but that's one smart move Palm.
 
Palm Pre to Launch June 6th Priced at $199.99



Sprint today announced that the Palm Pre will launch on June 6th and will be priced at $199.99 with a two-year contract and mail-in rebate.
Sprint today announced pricing and nationwide availability for the highly anticipated Palm Pre phone, offered exclusively from Sprint. Palm Pre will be available nationwide on June 6 in Sprint stores, Best Buy, Radio Shack, select Wal-Mart stores and online at Sprint.com for $199.99 with a two-year service agreement and after a $100 mail-in rebate.
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Announced in January, the Palm Pre has been hyped as the most significant near-term threat to the iPhone's market share due to the inclusion of a number of new features, including Palm's new "webOS" operating system, a multi-touch interface, and a faster processor than that found in the iPhone 3G.

Sprint and Palm are also promoting the Pre's ability to integrate data across applications via a feature known as "Palm Synergy":

"The Pre's dynamic 'activity cards' approach to handling and navigating multiple applications is a great advance, but the core breakthrough is the integration of information across multiple applications on and off the phone," said Andy Castonguay, director of Mobile & Access Devices Research, Yankee Group. "With social networking and messaging being so important to consumers, the device's new 'Palm Synergy' functionality – which gives Pre the ability to automatically pull friends' contact details, messaging addresses and personal calendars from different applications online and on the phone – will greatly simplify people's ability to communicate with their friends and colleagues the way they want."
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The Palm Pre will utilize Sprint's "Everything Data" plan, which offers unlimited data and messaging, unlimited mobile-to-mobile, night and weekend calling, and a choice of either 450 or 900 anytime minutes. The plans are currently priced at $69.99 and $89.99 respectively.

Palm will also introduce its new Touchstone induction charging system on the Pre, which includes both a dock and an additional back cover for the handset to allow for wireless charging. The Touchstone system will be priced at $69.99.

Article Link: Palm Pre to Launch June 6th Priced at $199.99
 
So it's $199.00 after the $100 mail in rebate.... so really $299.00. I think I'll still probably be getting a new iPhone come the 8th. I'm still on my 1st gen one.
 
$70 for wireless induction charging? Yup, that whole "plugging a cable into the phone" is just too hard.

And people accuse Apple of putting out overpriced crap that people don't need.
 
ArtursBoy said:
I wouldn't call this a bad move for Palm, I'd call it a bold move. Apple's WWDC is gonna be like a free marketing campaign for the Pre. With excitement still high from the Pre release on June 6th, whatever comes out of Apple on June 8th, will automatically start being compared to the Pre. And in case Apple doesn't introduce a new phone as rumored on that date, Pre will look even better. Since there haven't been many (up until now, not one) hands-on reviews on the Pre by third parties, Palm can potentially make as many claims as they want about the potential of their new phone when its released; and it won't matter if they are exaggerated or not, they'll leave it up to the press and the public to decide, but that will happen after WWDC.

I like Apple and my iPhone, but that's one smart move Palm.
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A bold move that can also leave an egg on their face.
 
I really want to play with the Pre, but there's no chance I'll ever leave the iPhone.

I'm a Mac-user first and any mobile device I pick is based off that. No one else can offer the tight integration between all my Mac apps and my phone that Apple can.

But still, I wish them well.
 
I really like the touchstone feature. Though that is quite expensive when one could just charge it plugged in for free..
 
I think Palm is going to have a HIT on their hands... Not saying its going to overtake the iPhone or anything but that pricing plan is very good... unlimited everything and 450 minutes for $69.99 is not a bad deal... thats the starting price with the iPhone now plus you got to add Messaging... most likely another 10 to 15 bucks...

hopefully this competition will get att and Apple to lower the price to play with the iPhone.
 
chrone said:
$70 for wireless induction charging? Yup, that whole "plugging a cable into the phone" is just too hard.

And people accuse Apple of putting out overpriced crap that people don't need.
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Well Apple DOES do that.
 
Almost as good looking as an iPhone, but not quite.
 

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Pugpuppydude said:
I really like the touchstone feature. Though that is quite expensive when one could just charge it plugged in for free..
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the touchstone is just "free" money for them.. they know a lot of people will be swayed into it by a sales person when purchasing the phone so its just extra cash.
 
Goona said:
A bold move that can also leave an egg on their face.
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True.

Apple will benefit by having a couple of days to "adjust" their presentation, but unless the media perceives Pre to completely suck (which I highly doubt), comparisons are going to be inevitable. Apple would need to make Pre and its WebOS look worthless compared to Apple's iPhone OS to make this move work against Palm, but from what I've seen, WebOS might be the best competition Apple has at the moment.
 
I personally can't wait to see how this phone does. I don't expect it to beat out iPhone sales, but I do expect it to do very well. I want to see some customer reviews and try it myself. The Pre is the exciting smartphone release this June. I haven't been too excited about any of the rumors surrounding the iPhone. Who knows maybe Apple will do something no one seeing coming, but that hasn't really been the case lately.
 
I'm more interested with Sprint's plan of $69.99 with everything on it. It looks like a very good deal coming from ATT with iPhone plan. I hope it brings ATT to its senses. Competition is good.
 
In this corner.....

Apple iPhone (ATT)
Blackberry Storm (Verizon)
Google Android (T-Mobile)
Palm Pre (Sprint)

Everyone is all lined up for this "battle" to win our $s.

Does anyone know if the PRE has a glass screen (as opposed to plastic)? Also, how can you browse in landscape mode....is there a touchscreen keyboard? It would not make sense to hold the phone in landscape mode while the keyboard is in portrait mode.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 2_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/525.18.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.1.1 Mobile/5H11 Safari/525.20)

xhambonex said:
I personally can't wait to see how this phone does. I don't expect it to beat out iPhone sales, but I do expect it to do very well. I want to see some customer reviews and try it myself. The Pre is the exciting smartphone release this June. I haven't been too excited about any of the rumors surrounding the iPhone. Who knows maybe Apple will do something no one seeing coming, but that hasn't really been the case lately.
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This is what happens when you are the one setting the bar.
 
WhySoSerious said:
awesome, awesome, awesome. everything about this is...awesome. :D
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Agreed. The Pre maybe rejected by the vast majority of MR fans but the Pre is probably the best thing to happen to the iPhone. Heck the Pre may be the biggest piece of crap (doubtful) but once the Pre was announced suddenly the hearing aids on the Apple folks were turned on.
 
SilentPanda said:
So it's $199.00 after the $100 mail in rebate.... so really $299.00. I think I'll still probably be getting a new iPhone come the 8th. I'm still on my 1st gen one.
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Sure, you will have to pay $299 up front, but whoever pays cash nowadays. Just charge it and send out the rebate. In the end, you'll still be paying $199, which is a very competitive price - especially with the price of Sprints plans.

This ought to be interesting to watch how this plays out. But, besides on the internet, where is the promotion for this phone? Has anyone seen any adds, commercials, banners, etc.?
 
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